Ps.30.8 (the hands of covenantal assurance; Christ's death)

“I will exult / and I will rejoice / in your lovingkindness – you who have seen / my affliction; - you knew about / the distress of my soul. – And you have not / delivered me / into the hand / of my enemy; - you have set / my feet / in a broad place.” The tone of the psalm now shifts. Up to now the psalmist has recounted two dynamics: his unwavering trust in Yhwh and Yhwh’s provision of refuge. This is, in effect, a covenantal dynamic. Here, the reality of the covenant begins to emerge. Through this unadulterated trust in Yhwh, the psalmist now foresees, with certainty, a time of rejoicing and exultation. As before, he found “in Yhwh” a refuge and fortified city, he now finds “in your lovingkindness” the enactment of that protection. He foresees himself standing in that covenantal reality of lovingkindness. Within that sphere (which is, of power), praise begins. By handing himself, completely, over to Yhwh (“Into your hands, I commend my spirit”), he is simultaneously certain of his deliverance. This is profound. To properly perceive Yhwh’s covenantal faithfulness (his ‘lovingkindness’), is to be “guided” and “led” into deliverance and praise. This trust, though, as we have seen, is a trust that Yhwh will (and is able) to detect and protect against every hidden snare. In effect, the more one hands oneself over to Yhwh, the more confident one becomes in Yhwh’s ‘truth’ (saving power to effect covenantal blessing). Or, the more one enacts the first commandment, the more one comes to see that Yhwh’s covenantal commitment to his people, is just as absolute as the commandment itself. At this point I think something needs to be said regarding Christ’s quoting of “Into your hands I commend my spirit.” If what we have said is true, this quotation on the very eve of death, is the most pure form of covenantal trust possible. It has been said, however, that this psalmist is concerned with ‘this worldly’ enactment of Yhwh’s blessing, whereas in Christ, this assurance is now transferred to ‘beyond the grave’. I think this misses something important. When the psalmist said this it is true he saw it being worked out in ‘this life’ and not ‘beyond the grave’, however his assurance is one rooted in Yhwh and I think, for that reason, his assurance, while encompassing him is not exhausted in him. This is difficult to explain. In other words, his assurance that Yhwh is a true covenantal partner overflows and points beyond him. This assurance while encompassing life ‘now’ cannot be contained or measured by that ‘now’. So I really see no tension between the psalmist’s speaking these words and Christ’s. The difference is that in Christ, these words are, in a sense, brought to their utter edge and reveal a depth that is, perhaps, hidden here. At no point would the temptation to ‘vain idols’ have been greater and, therefore, at no point would these words have been more difficult to utter. However, the logic of the psalm has been such that it has driven itself, clearly, to this point. Rather than resign himself, he stood “in Yhwh”. Rather than abandon the first commandment, he enacted it. The covenant remained, unshaken, into death (and, therefore, descended into death and brought life). It is, in his resurrection, that we come to see this great covenantal fidelity enacted, and shine, powerfully, forth. In his resurrection, he becomes the locus of this power, as, through him, it begins to pour forth into the world.